


Just Like Hide and Seek

by MickyRC



Series: We've Had Worse [1]
Category: Slow Show - mia_ugly
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Harry the Rabbit (Warlock) - Freeform, Hiding, Implied Sexual Content, Warlock the TV Show (Slow Show), mia_ugly's Slow Show Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22782754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MickyRC/pseuds/MickyRC
Summary: “Shh, kiddo,” Julia murmured.  She sat up, careful of her head on the low beams.  “We gotta be quiet, remember?”Stuck in the crawlspace of a local house with the Inquisition on their tail, Julia and Joshua get to spend some time together.
Relationships: Erasmus/William (Warlock - Slow Show), Julia Chattox & Joshua (Warlock - Slow Show)
Series: We've Had Worse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637896
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34
Collections: Ixnael’s Recommendations, Ixnael’s SFW corner, Slow Show Metaverse, Warlock fic





	Just Like Hide and Seek

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so, uh. I took what was intended as a smut prompt and turned it into fluff. Then out of nowhere I... also wrote the smut. Which I've never done before. Still not entirely sure what happened there.
> 
> Anyway, here's the fluff, with just a touch of RasWill nonsense. Thanks to raswillobsession for the original prompt and Tarek for betaing!

Breathe in. Breathe out. She wasn’t going to sleep here, that was for sure, but she could at least try to get some rest. Breathe in, breathe out, try not to cough on the sawdust.

A small foot landed hard on her elbow, and she bit back a shout of pain. She was pretty good at that, now.

Julia rolled onto her side, back against the rough support beams holding up the roof. The crawlspace crammed between the eaves and the house’s kitchen extension was just long enough for her to lie down with her knees straight, and just tall enough for Joshua to stand only slightly crouched. He was making as much use of that as possible, pacing along the length and listening at the walls. There wasn’t anything to hear that couldn’t be heard from the middle of the room, the walls were so thin, but Joshua was fascinated by the different sounds he could hear from different walls.

Julia let her eyes slip closed. She certainly wasn’t going to stop him, not as long as he was quiet and entertained. Who knew how long they’d be stuck there?

“ _ Julia! _ ” She winced at the harsh, loud whisper.

“Shh, kiddo,” she murmured. She sat up, careful of her head on the low beams. “We gotta be quiet, remember?”

Big brown eyes peered at her through the dim, just enough light creeping through the thin wood to see Joshua crouched at the end of the crawlspace. “But I whispered,” he said, confused.

Julia sighed. “Whispering’s not an off switch for people hearing you, Joshua.” He tilted his head, always curious, always wondering why. Julia couldn’t help the little swell of pride in her chest. “C’mere.” She stretched out an arm. “Whisper it in my ear, that’ll be quiet enough.”

He scrambled over, knocking his knees against the floor a little louder than she would have liked, and climbed up into her lap. God, he’d gotten so big in the past month. She could still hold him like this, sitting on the floor, but it was already getting to be a challenge to carry him all the time.

Still. She’d gladly deal with the heavy lifting and the constant search for bigger clothes if it meant she got to enjoy his newfound ability for conversation.

“What’s up, kiddo?” she asked once he was settled on her knees.

He leaned forward and carefully pushed her hair away from her ear, melting Julia’s heart as he moved to whisper in her ear. “That wall over there smells like fish.”

Julia did her best, but it was impossible to completely mute her amusement. She tried to mirror his serious expression. “ _ Does _ it?” He nodded solemnly. “Well then. Maybe there’s a fish in the wall.”

His nose scrunched up. “ _ In _ the wall?”

She shrugged. “Could be.”

Joshua wasn’t having it. “Things can’t be  _ in _ a wall. That’s not how walls are.”

“We’re in a wall right now.”

“...oh.” He looked around, like they hadn’t been sitting in the crawlspace for hours already and he’d never seen it before. He turned back to her with an adorable little crease between his eyebrows. “Really?”

Julia stifled her grin. “Mhm.”

“Oh.” He sat there for another long moment, intently considering the nature of walls. Then he pushed away from her shoulders, and Julia had to resist the urge to reach out and steady him as he clambered around in her lap, turning to face away and settling back comfortably against her chest. Her heart swelled as she wrapped an arm around him in a loose hug and let him curl up there, so calm and quiet where most kids would be panicked or unmanageably fidgety.

Although, she supposed, there wasn’t much in the world to panic over that Joshua hadn’t already seen.

“Julia?” he asked after a minute, and she let a hand drift up to run over his hair.

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“Are Ras and Will in a wall, too?”

She didn’t have to hide her grin this time. “Yep.”

“The same wall as us?”

“No, they’re upstairs. They’ve got their own wall.”

“Oh.” He wiggled into a more comfy position on her lap. “I like our wall.”

Julia’s smile went gentle, and she leaned forward to press a kiss to the top of Joshua’s head. “I’m glad, kiddo.”

They sat there quietly for a while. Julia wasn’t sure what Joshua was doing; listening to the noises from outside again, maybe, or daydreaming, or possibly still thinking about walls. For her part, she was doing all three.

Their last run in with the Inquisition had been… well, rough didn’t quite cover it, but they’d gotten away, which was the important part. But they hadn’t been able to get out of town before their pursuers caught up. One shaky favor and a lot of iffy promises later, they had somewhere to hide, but none of them really trusted their hosts, and none of them would have been able to relax even if they did. Julia couldn’t help flinching at a door slamming across the street, or stop herself from compulsively checking her dagger in its sheath on the floor next to her.

They’d had worse, though. At least it hadn’t gotten cold yet. At least there wasn’t rain leaking through the roof. At least they were all together, even if they’d had to split between the two crawlspaces.

Joshua tugged on her sleeve. “Julia?” His quiet voice had already gotten much better. “Can I have Harry?”

She smiled and reached for her backpack. “Yeah, of course.” The worn and battered rabbit doll was at the top of the bag, where Erasmus had hurriedly shoved it when they realized they had to split up. Food with William, equipment with Erasmus, money with Julia, and Harry the rabbit wherever Joshua was. She handed the toy over and Joshua gingerly took it, straightening a crumpled ear and checking it over before he tucked it against his chest and snuggled back against Julia. She brushed a stray lock of hair off his forehead. “Are you sleepy?”

He shook his head. “No. Just want him.”

“Okay, kiddo.”

He was asleep before she had counted to ten.

Gently, she shifted him off of her lap to lie on the floor. Joshua had spent his whole life sleeping on horseback and out in the open; nothing so soft as a wooden floor would keep him up. He barely even stirred as she settled Harry better under his arm.

Letting out a heavy breath, Julia slid to the side and lay down next to him. She grimaced and shifted uselessly when her feet hit the boards at the end of the crawlspace. Oh well. They’d been in worse places. It made her wonder about William and Erasmus, though. Cramming two full-grown bodies in a space this size couldn’t be fun. At least they didn’t have a problem with cuddling together anymore.

Joshua made a small sound in his sleep, and Julia tensed. He was getting to the age where nightmares were common, and while he’d never had one at a problematic moment yet, it was only a matter of time. She couldn’t bear the thought of having to keep him quiet without any comfort if he woke up crying. A gentle hand through his hair seemed to soothe him, though, and she went back to listening for sound from downstairs.

There was a wagon down in the street being fixed with a new wheel. They’d seen it when they came in, broken down in the middle of the road with its owner shouting to the high heavens about loose cobbles and shoddy craftmanship. The noise and chaos had given them a nice bit of cover to get inside the house, but it also attracted the attention of the local town guard. There was no reason for them to look in the house. No reason to question their hosts, certainly no reason to check the crawlspaces in the attic and kitchen roof.

But they hadn’t left yet, either. And Julia didn’t like that at all.

She also didn’t like putting their lives in the hands of people she’d never met and even William didn’t trust, but there they were. She’d thought being in a town this size would be a break from the constant vigilance they needed out in the open, but this was worse. At least in the woods, they could run, they could scatter and hide and get Joshua safe.

Here, though? Here they’d have one chance to get out if they needed it. If that wall panel opened, Julia had to be ready, had to have the knife in her hand and the bag on her back ready to go. Had to hope she could take them down in one stab, grab Joshua around the waist, and pray to high heaven he kept a tight grip on Harry.

Pray to high heaven Erasmus and William could get themselves out from their spot two stories off the ground.

A scattered cheer went up from the street. The wagon was fixed, then. That meant the town guard would be on their way as well.  _ Should, _ at least, they’d have no reason to stick around once the road blockage and aggressive driver were gone. Unless they suspected something. Or unless their hosts had—

_ Creeeaak. _

Julia just barely kept the arm she threw over Joshua light enough not to wake him. That noise was close. It was  _ too _ close, it was inside the house, the exact sound a weak floorboard made when too much weight was put on it. Exactly the sound a guard’s boot would make if—

_ Thud. _

...okay. Except, actually, those sounds seemed to be coming from above them, not the hallway. Above them, in the attic, where… She shifted up a little, straining her ear toward the ceiling of the crawlspace.

_ Thwump. _

No way. They weren’t. No, they couldn’t have survived this long if they were  _ that _ stupid. Maybe it was the cat. Was there a cat? There was now, Julia decided, because she Was Not going to think about the alternative. No way were William and Erasmus—

_ CRASH, thump. _

Nope. They were.  _ Thud. _ Fucksake. Of course they were dumb enough to have sex hiding in a crawlspace with the Inquisition right on their tail. She didn’t know why she expected better.

Groaning, she lay back down and curled an arm over Joshua, wanting to protect his innocent little ears from his godfathers’ idiocy even in his sleep.

Well. It could be worse. At least they were inside for once. And they still had a while before nightfall, when they might be able to slip away and get back on the road. Joshua was asleep, and if Ras and Will were... occupied, that left Julia on watch duty. She’d just have to keep an ear out, listen to the noise from the street, and before she knew it, they’d be—

_ Thud. _

Julia sighed and let her head thump to the floor. They really were the dumbest companions she’d ever had.


End file.
